In these situations, it’s sometimes tempting for victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to contact school or church officials. That’s wrong. The independent and unbiased professionals in law enforcement should be contacted, not the biased amateurs in church or school offices.

For far too long, Philly Catholic officials have tried to handle cases like this quietly and “in house.” Those days and that practice must end.

We beg every single person who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds by this teacher to call police and prosecutors. We applaud any and every one who already cooperating with secular authorities to get to the bottom of these troubling allegations.